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Iraq War
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"The best-armed and most powerful perpetrators of gender-based violence in Iraq are those militias that have been trained, funded, and armed by the United States. Contrary to its rhetoric and its international legal obligations, the Bush Administration has refused to protect women's rights in Iraq. In fact, it has decisively traded women's rights for cooperation from the Islamists it has empowered.""
--Statement from the women’s human rights organization MADRE, in their 2007 report on gender-based violence in Iraq |
After the attacks of September 11th, the United States used the excuse of weapons of mass destruction to invade Iraq. Since then, the U.S. invasion and occupation has left an estimated 100,000 people dead, tens of thousands more injured, and has cost more than 845 billion US dollars
The consequences to human rights and women's rights have been devastating, with gross abuses taking place daily across the country.
The war has also brought a humanitarian crisis to the region. More than two million Iraqis have been made refugees and at least that number have been internally displaced since the conflict began. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has described Iraq as one of the world's "largest and fastest-growing humanitarian crises."
The military response to the attacks of 9/11 has motivated more killing, more fear, and more insecurity for both Americans and Iraqis. The result has been more terrorism and less security.
Bush’s successor, President Obama, has committed to substantial troop withdrawal in the next few years, with the intent of ceasing U.S. combat operations in Iraq by 2010. But, under his plan, as many as 50,000 combat troops will stay in Iraq after the pull-out Iraq to aid with transition.
While the Bush Administration repeatedly claimed the war in Iraq is not about oil, the proposed Iraq Oil Law, backed by the administration and tied to continued US reconstruction aid, positions U.S. oil corporations to take control over Iraq's oil, transforming the Iraqi oil industry from a nationalized model to a commercial model much more open to U.S. corporate control.
For more information:
- Stop the Iraq Oil Law: News, action, and resources.
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